All 7 Uses

baffle
in
The Hunt for Red October
(Edited)

It was a lengthy process, for the submarine had many such tanks, each carefully subdivided by numerous cellular baffles.
Chpt 1. *

baffles = something constructed to control the flow of sound or fluid
To make use of the newly developed heat exchanger, the Alfa plant had to move water rapidly through its many loops and baffles.
Chpt 8.
Inside it was a water-filled ballast tank, a beehive of cellular baffles seven feet across.
Chpt 17.
The force of the explosion had torn a hole twelve feet across, shredded the interior ballast tank baffles, and ruptured a half-dozen air flasks, but already much of its force had been dissipated.
Chpt 17.

Uses with a meaning too rare to warrant foucs:

Ordinarily a submarine's sonar will work in any direction except aft—an area called the cone of silence, or the baffles.
Chpt 11. *

baffles = area in the disturbed water directly behind a moving vessel
The Soviet missile submarine was making a complete circle so her bow-mounted sonar could check for anyone hiding in her baffles.
Chpt 12.
"He's abeam of us, we'll be in his baffles soon," Chief Laval reported.
Chpt 17.

baffles = disturbed water directly behind a moving vessel

Definitions:

(1) (baffle as in: baffled her)
to perplex or confuse someone
(2) (baffle as in: acoustic baffle)
something constructed to control the flow of sound or fluid
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
Less commonly:
- baffle can refer to the hindering of efforts, plans, or desires.
- baffles can describe the area directly behind a moving vessel where water is disturbed
- baffle has other technical uses relating to medicine, heat transfer, and mechanics